Amazon Office Tower Sells for $370MM

In a season of continued interest for Seattle commercial real estate assets, New York-based investment company, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, just made another investment in an office tower that is primarily occupied by Amazon. Public documents confirmed the sale price of $370 million, or nearly $740 per square foot. Deutsche declined to comment or confirm the price.

The 28-story tower, located at 2001 Eighth Avenue in Seattle was sold by Boston-based AEW Capital Management, which purchased the building in November 2012 for $278.7, achieving a gain of approximately $91.3 million in a little over three years.

The tower was completed in May 2009, and it is located in the Lake Union submarket. It features 497,798 square feet of Class A office space and 18,000 square feet of retail space. Amenities include an outdoor terrace, onsite childcare facility, a full-service restaurant, and coffee bar.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management is a privately owned investment manager. According to Bloomberg, the firm launches and manages equity, fixed income, balanced, pension/retirement fund, real estate fund, and multi-asset mutual funds for its clients. It also launches and manages hedge funds for its clients. The firm was founded in 1956, and its global headquarters are in Frankfurt, Germany.

According to Touchstone, the developer, two other corporations signed leases after construction of the building was complete. Casey Family Programs signed for 73,500 square feet on the 25th through 28th floors and Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute had signed a 10-year contract for 61,000 square feet on the fourth through sixth floors.

The final quarter of 2015 saw a number of office buildings delivered to the Seattle market with strong leasing and a variety of sales activity, according to Kidder Mathews. The region’s vacancy rate dropped to 8.1 percent with 4,425,045 square feet of net absorption, a net gain of occupancy that was nearly twice that of 2014. Continuing as it did for the previous five years, Amazon was responsible for just about half of the new net increase in occupied space.

According to the Downtown Seattle Association, the greater Puget Sound region has experienced year-over-year improvements in office absorption, vacancy rates and lease rates, with Downtown Seattle leading the way.